Sunday, April 11, 2010

LGBT History Month and PRIDE Solidarity supporter Clare Dimyon, who is about to embark on her second tour of every Pride celebration in Europe on April 26th this year, is a friend and ally of Poland and its people. She has written this message in response to Saturday, April 10th's terrible incident:

"LGBT History Month expresses its condolences to ALL the people of Poland and to Polish people everywhere. The loss of the official aircraft taking 100 or more political and cultural figures to Katyń for the 70th anniversary commemorations is a modern tragedy which compunds the historic tragedy of the original massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and intellectuals taken prisoner by Stalin in the Molotov: Ribbentrop dismemberment of Poland in 1939. Stalin blamed the Nazis for the massacre and continued this propaganda throughout the Soviet era, compounding the grief of the Polish people, in particular relatives of those who perished. To compound this tragedy further, the 2010 commemoration was the first time in 70 years that Russia had made a formal invitation to Poland to commemorate the dead. Russia has yet to open the archives associated with the Katyń massacres so that Polish families can finally lay their loved ones to rest. At a conservative estimate 5% or 1,100 of those 22,000 men were gay or bisexual.

Our thoughts are with all Polish people, especially LGBT Polish people, as they grieve this terrible loss. Our particular thoughts are with all the bereaved but particularly the family of Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (1950-2010) the former Deputy Prime Minister, who was outspoken ally and advocate for LGBT people. She died in the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and the 100 other Polish dignitaries."

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